Toe kick air outlet cover and methodology for its use

ABSTRACT

One possible of the embodiment could be a toe-kick air outlet cover comprising of a body having at least three walls and a four-edged cover plate; the walls are attached to three respective and continuous edges of the four-edged cover plate to generally form a continuous wall structure; a bar, the bar being connected to the continuous wall structure; wherein the body further forms an open bottom and an open side, with the open bottom being placed over a toe kick airway and the open side being placed against a toe kick ventilator to continuously connect the airway to the ventilator.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/053,805, filed on May 16, 2008 the contents of which are relied upon and incorporated by reference.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

REFERENCE TO A “MICROFICHE APPENDIX”

Not Applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to covers for toe kick HVAC air outlets that may be generally located in the foundations of cabinetry structures.

BACKGROUND

A building (e.g., residential, commercial, office, industrial, or the like) may have one or more environmental systems for managing internal environmental. One such environmental system could be a forced air heating, ventilating, and air conditioning system (hereinafter “HVAC”), which generally maintains a desired internal environment by distributing treated forced air to various areas of the structure. This distribution could include the channeling of the treated forced air through HVAC ductworks to specially constructed ventilation openings or air outlets located in the walls, ceilings, floors, and the like of the structure. Some of these air outlets could be floor-mounted, toe kick air outlets. Cabinetry structures may be placed over these toe kick air outlets and allow forced air from the toe kick air outlet to generally vent to the outside of the cabinetry structure through a ventilator located in lower recessed area or toe kick portion of the cabinetry structure.

Such cabinetry structure may generally comprise of a foundation upon which rests a main body. The foundation may have one or more walls capped with a cover. The cover could be so placed over the walls to generally define the recessed toe kick portion of the cabinetry structure. A main body cabinetry structure, attached on top of the cover, may further define or otherwise function as sink, closet, shelving, storage space, and the like in the completed cabinetry structure. When the foundation is secured over the floor (e.g. containing one or more toe kick air outlets), the foundation provides a generally hollow interior which may receive the HVAC forced air from the toe kick air outlet.

When the cabinetry structure further incorporates a sink and its associated plumbing (e.g. water supply pipes, drain, and the like), the plumbing may be located in the interior space of the main body. In at least one instance, one or more pipes of the sink's plumbing may come from the flooring (rather than being wall mounted) and in doing so may pass through one or more apertures in the cover of the foundation to pass into the main body (e.g., interior space) to reach the underside of the sink.

When treated (e.g. heated) forced air flows from the HVAC system through ductwork to the toe-kick air outlet, the heated forced air generally fills hollow interior as denoted by the foundation. However, the slot nature of the toe kick ventilator may provide air flow resistance, which generally interferes with the free flow of HVAC forced air through the foundation, out the toe kick ventilator and venting to the exterior of the cabinetry structure. Further, in high grade cabinetry structures, the separate metal ventilator may be replaced with a series of vertical slots cut into a foundation wall. This built-in ventilator solution (which is desirous for esthetical reasons) has slots that are generally too narrow and too little in number to efficiently allow free flow of HVAC forced air out of the foundation's hollow interior.

As a result, a backwash or accumulation of a HVAC heated forced air could be retained within the hollow interior of the foundation. This backwash may result in a significant amount of heat from the heated forced air being dissipated into the main body. Further, where the cabinet structure supports a sink (with drain and water facets) and the related water pipes and drain are floor-mounted, rather than wall-mounted, apertures cut in the top of the foundation to allow passage of such piping to the floor may allow forced hot air to escape from the foundation hollow interior into the interior space of the cabinetry structure.

This diversion of heat (and HVAC forced air) could lower the efficiency of the HVAC system in properly warming greater parts of the building's interior. Further, this heating of the cabinetry structure and in particular, the interior space of the main body, could have a detrimental effect on various materials stored in the cabinetry structure. Such stored materials could include expensive and heat-sensitive commodities such a cosmetics (e.g. lipstick, lip gloss, mascara, eye liner, and the like) which can melt, clot, or otherwise irreversibly lose their original desired properties when heated.

What is needed therefore is a toe kick air outlet cover that can be generally employed over the toe kick air outlets to generally improve the transfer of heated forced air passing through the cabinetry structure to its outside environment, reduce heating of the cabinetry structure and its interior, as well as increasing the efficiency by which forced air from toe kick air outlets passes through toe kick ventilators to outside of the cabinetry structure.

SUMMARY OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION Advantages of One or More Embodiments of the Present Invention

The various embodiments of the present invention may, but do not necessarily, achieve one or more of the following advantages:

provide an insulated, easy-to-construct cover for a toe kick air outlet that efficiently channels forced heated air from the toe kick air outlet through a toe kick register;

an ability to limit amount of heat transmitted to the interior space of a cabinet structure via heated forced air coming from a toe kick air outlet located proximate to the bottom of the cabinetry structure; and

provide a means to increase the efficiency by which forced air is directed from toe kick air outlet through cabinetry structure foundation to the exterior of the cabinetry structures.

These and other advantages may be realized by reference to the remaining portions of the specification and abstract.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

One possible embodiment for the invention could be a toe-kick air outlet cover comprising a body having at least three walls and a four-edged cover plate; the walls are attached to three respective and continuous edges of the four-edged cover plate to generally form a continuous wall structure; a bar being connected to the continuous wall structure; wherein the body further forms an open bottom and an open side, with the open bottom being placed over a toe kick airway and the open side being placed against a toe kick ventilator to continuously connect the airway to the ventilator.

Another possible embodiment could be a toe-kick air outlet cover comprising of a body having a four-edge cover plate and three walls, one non-opposing wall and two opposing walls, the two opposing walls are made by placing the opposing edges of the cover plate in a perpendicular orientation to the cover plate, the one opposing wall is a sheet attached to the cover plate and two opposing walls to form a cap structure; the cap structure further forming an open side and an open bottom; wherein the open bottom secures over a toe kick airway to place the open side proximate to a toe kick ventilator of a cabinetry structure that is placed over the cap structure.

Yet another possible embodiment could be a toe-kick air outlet cover comprising of a body, the body having three walls attaching to three respective and continuous edges of four-edged cover plate to create a cap structure; the cap structure further forming an open side and an open bottom; the sheath, the sheath being located over at least a portion of the cover plate and two walls; wherein when the body is placed over a toe kick air outlet and the sheath connects to a toe kick register so that the outlet is continuously connected to a toe register that is remote from the outlet.

The above description sets forth, rather broadly, a summary of one embodiment of the present invention so that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and contributions of the present invention to the art may be better appreciated. Some of the embodiments of the present invention may not include all of the features or characteristics listed in the above summary. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described below and will form the subject matter of claims. In this respect, before explaining at least one preferred embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or as illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is substantially a perspective cutaway view of one embodiment of a cabinetry structure placed over a toe-kick air outlet

FIG. 2 is substantially a perspective cutaway view of one embodiment of the present invention placed over a toe-kick air outlet.

FIG. 3 is substantially a perspective cutaway view of another embodiment of the present invention placed over a toe-kick air outlet.

FIG. 4 is substantially a perspective cutaway of yet another embodiment of the present invention placed over a toe-kick air outlet.

DESCRIPTION OF CERTAIN EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this application. The drawings show, by way of illustration, specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

As substantially shown in FIG. 1, a room 10 in a building under construction 12 could have several toe kick air outlets 14 for its HVAC system 16. These toe kick air outlets 14 could be located proximate to and be generally defined (e.g., have a circular shape) by the support structure 28 of the respective floor 20. Generally, various cabinetry structures 30 (that could form sinks 26, cabinets, and other storage facilities) could be located over the respective toe kick air outlets 14.

The cabinetry structure 30 could be comprised of a foundation 32 and main body 40. In one possible version of the cabinetry structure 30, the foundation 32 and main body 40 could generally be one piece. In another possible version of the cabinetry structure 30, the foundation 32 and main body 40 could be initially separate pieces and then be substantially assembled into one piece structure when installed over the toe kick air outlet(s) 14. The foundation 32 may be comprised of a cover 36 and several walls 34, with at least one wall 34 being a front wall 38 that is generally forming a toe kick portion 42 of the foundation 32. The front wall 38 may further have a toe kick aperture 44 for the placement of an upright toe kick register 46.

A separate metal toe kick register 46 may be placed in the toe-kick aperture 44. In another version (not shown), the toe kick aperture 44 may comprise of a series of vertical slots forming the toe kick register 46. The slot construction of either type of toe kick register 46 may generally allows some of the heated forced air 24 (that has accumulated in the hollow interior 50 of the foundation 32) to pass through it and vent to the outside or exterior 48 of the cabinetry structure 30. The toe kick register 46 may also help limit the entry of spilt water from the sinks and other debris into the HVAC system 16.

When the cabinetry structure 30 is assembled over the floor-located toe kick air outlet 14, the toe kick air outlet 14 is generally located proximate to front wall 38 (e.g., close by the toe kick aperture 44/toe kick register 46.) The foundation 32 in this manner forms a hollow interior 52 into which heated force air 24 may accumulate from the toe kick air outlet 14. The hollow interior 50 is generally significantly larger that the opening created by the toe kick air outlet 14. This respective size combined with the passage resistance provided by the toe kick register 46 may cause treated forced air from the toe kick air outlet 14 to accumulate and swirl around in the hollow interior 50 before eventually forced out through the toe kick register 46 to outside the foundation 32.

This retention of heated forced air 24 within the foundation (e.g., room interior) may result in the heating of the hollow space and other parts of the main body, resulting in the unwanted heating of materials stored in the cabinetry structure 30 (e.g., heat damaging expensive, heat-sensitive cosmetics and makeup 28 and the like.) The heat transfer could respectively cool the HVAC forced hot air thus resulting in lowering the capacity of the HVAC system 16 to properly heat larger areas of the building 12.

The invention 60 could be a toe-kick air outlet cover 70 and method or process 200 of using same. The invention 60 could more efficiently channel the heated forced air 24 from a toe kick air outlet 14 out of the cabinetry structure 30 located over the toe kick air outlet 14, thus generally reducing the unwanted heating of the cabinetry structure 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, one version of the toe kick air outlet cover 70 could comprise of a body 72 having at least three cover walls 74, a rectangular-shaped cover plate 76, and a bar 77. The cover walls 74 could generally descending down from three respective and continous edges of rectangular cover plate 76 to generally form a U-shaped wall structure 82 having two opposing walls 78 with a non-opposing wall 80 placed between the opposing wall pair. The U-shaped wall structure 82 together with the cover plate 76 could form a cap-like structure having an open bottom 84 and open side 86. The bar 77 could be placed over open bottom 84 connecting two opposing walls 78 of the U-shaped wall structure so as to be proximate to the open side 86 and distal from the non-opposing wall 80. In this manner, the bar 77 could be see as demarcating the open bottom 84 from the open side 86. The bar 77 could act as a structural reinforcement element to generally prevent the opposing wall pair from moving out of parallel alignment with one another (e.g., splaying).

This cover 70 could be formed using T-shaped fiberglass duct board (e.g., a sheet of fiberglass insulation having metallic film one side of the sheet). With the metal film forming the outside of the cover, a commercially available groove cutting tool (not shown) can make V-shaped grooves to demarcate the three sides from the top (e.g., the wings, stem of the T from the center portion of the T.) The three sides are moved downward and glued together along their mutual edges and along the V-cuts to generally form the cap structure.

The bar 77 (which could be made from metal or other suitable material) could be formed from an elongated, cruciform/cross-shaped sheet metal having a bar body 90 with wings 92 and ends 94, wherein the wings 92 are bent upward to be perpendicular to the bar body 90 in a parallel orientation to one another. The tips of the ends 94 could be also bent upward in parallel orientation to one another to generally create end channels 94 that could receive portions of the bottom edges of the opposing walls 78. The bar 77 could be placed on the bottom edges of the opposing walls 78 substantially placing the bar 77 in parallel orientation and distal to the bottom edge of the non-opposing wall 78 and proximate to the open side 86. A foil face tape (e.g., FSK tape, UL181 tape or the like) could placed over the tips of the metal bar 77 and the outsides of the opposing walls 78 could hold the bar 77 to the body 72.

In FIG. 3, another version of the toe kick air outlet cover 70 could be made from sheet metal. The cover 70 could again generally comprise of body 72 having a cap structure 85 with an open bottom 84 and an open side 86. The two opposing walls 78 could be formed by bending down two opposing edges of the rectangular-shaped cover plate 76 in a respective parallel configuration to one another. The third non-opposing wall 80 could be a separate rectangular metal sheet that is crimped attached to a set of rear edges of the opposing walls and the rectangular-shaped cover plate 76. The lower edges of all three walls could be folded outward to form a floor flange 96 for the attachment of the toe kick air outlet cover 70 to the floor 20. The floor flanges 96 could also have fastener apertures 98 through which fasteners (not shown) could partially pass through to connect the toe kick air outlet cover 70 to the floor 20. In addition, the front edges of the opposing walls 78 and rectangular shaped cover plate 76 that define the open side 86 could be bent inward to form a wall flange 100. The wall flange 100 could also feature fastener apertures 98 to allow partial passage of fasteners (not shown) to the front wall 38 of the foundation 38 securing the toe kick air outlet cover 70 to the front wall 38. Some form of adhesive could also be used to attach the wall flange to the front wall 38.

As substantially shown in FIG. 4, yet another version of the toe kick air outlet cover 70 could be made from wood and metal. This version could have a wooden body 72 moveably connected to a metal sheath 102 or covering used to extend the length of the toe kick air outlet cover 70 to allow the channeling of a toe kick air outlet 14 that could otherwise be significantly remote from the toe kick air outlet aperture 44. The body 72 could have three cover walls 74 and a cover plate 76. The cover walls 74 could form a U-shape wall structure 82 with a rectangular cover plate 76 generally attached to one side of the U-shaped wall structure 82. This combination could result in a cap-shaped structure 85 with an open bottom 84 and an open side 86. The two of the cover walls 74 could be opposing walls 78 while the wall located between the pair of opposing walls 78 could be a non-opposing wall 80. The non-opposing wall 80 could have an outwardly oriented floor flange 96 by its bottom edge to secure the body 72 to the floor 20. The formed open side 86 could further feature a T-shaped brace 104 that bisects the open side 86 into two vent channels 106.

The metal sheath 102 could be a rectangular plate bent into a generally bent into an inverted U-shaped comprising a sheath cover 108 and two sheath walls 110. Each of the sheath walls 110 could have an outwardly disposed sheath flange 112 that could be penetrated by fasteners to affix the sheath 102 to the floor 20 relative to the toe-kick air outlet 14 and the body 72.

The sheath 102 could be movably placed over at least a portion of the body 72. In this manner, the operator could move the sheath 102 generally over from the body 72 to generally extend/retract the coverage size of the invention 60 over a toe-kick air outlet 14 to a respective toe kick air register 46. This capability could allow the invention 60 to properly channel the flow of treated forced air 24 from a toe-kick air outlet 14 to a toe kick air register 46 that is significantly remote from the toe-kick air outlet 14.

CONCLUSION

As the above description shows, the invention is a toe kick air outlet cover and a methodology of its respective use. The invention efficiently channels forced HVAC forced air from the air outlet to a toe kick register so as to limit the amount of heat transmitted from the forced air to the cabinetry structure. The invention further increases the efficiency by which forced air is directed from toe kick air outlet(s) through cabinetry structure to the exterior of the cabinetry structure.

Although the description above contains many specifications, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. Thus, the scope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents rather than by the examples given. 

1. A toe-kick air outlet cover comprising: (A) a body, the body having at least three walls and a four-edged cover plate; (B) the walls are attached to three respective and continuous edges of the four-edged cover plate to generally form a continuous wall structure; (C) a bar, the bar being connected to the continuous wall structure; wherein the body further forms an open bottom and an open side, with the open bottom being placed over a toe kick airway and the open side being placed against a toe kick ventilator to continuously connect the airway to the ventilator.
 2. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 1 wherein the walls are in a perpendicular orientation to the plate.
 3. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 1 wherein the walls are continuously attached to another at their respective side edges.
 4. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 1 wherein the bar has a cross-shape forming a bar body, two wings, and two ends, with the wings being bent perpendicular to the bar body to give the bar a U-shaped cross section.
 5. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 4 wherein the ends are bent to form end channels to receive portions of the continuous wall structure.
 6. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 1 wherein the bar connects two of opposing walls.
 7. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 1 wherein the bar further demarcates the open bottom from the open side.
 8. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 5 wherein the bar prevents portions of the continuous wall structure from splaying.
 9. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 1 wherein the body is formed from a T-shaped fiberglass duct board having V-shaped grooves cut into it to demarcate three sides from a top, wherein the three sides are placed in perpendicular orientation relative to the top and glued together along their respective mutual edges and their respective V-shaped grooves.
 10. A toe-kick air outlet cover comprising: (A) a body having a four-edge cover plate and three walls, one non-opposing wall and two opposing walls, the two opposing walls are made by placing the opposing edges of the cover plate in a perpendicular orientation to the cover plate, the one opposing wall is a sheet attached to the cover plate and two opposing walls to form a cap structure; (B) the cap structure further forming an open side and an open bottom; wherein the open bottom secures over a toe kick airway to place the open side proximate to a toe kick ventilator of a cabinetry structure that is placed over the cap structure.
 11. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 10 wherein the walls are in perpendicular orientation relative to the cover plate.
 12. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 10 wherein the three walls are continuously attached to another at their respective edges to form a continuous wall structure.
 13. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 12 wherein the continuous wall structure forms flanges for attachment of the cover to a floor.
 14. The toe-kick air outlet cover of claim 10 wherein the cover plate further forms a wall flange.
 15. A toe-kick air outlet cover comprising: (A) a body, the body having three walls attaching to three respective and continuous edges of four-edged cover plate to create a cap structure; (B) the cap structure further forming an open side and an open bottom; (C) the sheath, the sheath being located over at least a portion of the cover plate and two walls; wherein when the body is placed over a toe kick air outlet and the sheath connects to a toe kick register so that the outlet is continuously connected to a toe register that is remote from the outlet.
 16. The toe kick air outlet covering of claim 15 wherein the sheath is moved along the body to the continuously connect to toe kick air outlet the toe-kick register.
 17. The toe kick air outlet covering of claim 15 wherein the sheath has an inverted U-Shaped.
 18. The toe kick air outlet covering of claim 15 wherein sheath further features a flange for attachment to a floor.
 19. The toe kick air outlet covering of claim 15 wherein the sheath is made from sheet metal.
 20. A toe kick air outlet covering of claim 15 wherein the body made from wood. 